Hacker News Reader

Comment by NDizzle | Hacker News Reader

This is just another instance of Nintendo's ancient management being demolished by what they think consumers "don't really want".

Another instance would be their refusal to embrace internet multiplayer. A final instance, which they are still guilty of, is piss-poor hardware in their consoles. Nobody can port a game to Nintendo because they have to make a subpar product compared to what they can make on the other consoles.

That's why you only really see first party games on Nintendo consoles. There are some third party releases, but you'd be much, much better off buying the same game on an xbox/playstation.

Watch them figure out the free to play revolution somewhere around 2022, when everyone else is extremely tired of the idea.

View on HN

I'd argue that the weak hardware on their consoles is exactly what the consumers want. Weak hardware lets them focus on making the equipment rugged while still cheap, keeping them in the lead with younger gamers.

I bought my son a 2DS. He's 7, I would never trust him with a more expensive and fragile piece of equipment. The 2DS has anemic hardware and a resistive touch-screen (admittedly the best resistive touch-screen I've ever used). Do you think he gives a crap that it doesn't have as many gigaflops or shader channels as the next guy? No, he just freaking loves playing Mario Kart.

I'm actually worried about Nintendo's modernization. They are figuring out free-to-play. Their embracing of Amiibos and their launch of Pokemon Shuffle (a Candy Crush-style free-to-play cash-sucking skinner box) is very worrying as it shows they're moving to the modern approach of "suck money from players any way you can" instead of the traditional "sell really really good games at a high-ish price that never goes down because the game is so good it retains its value".

> ... it shows they're moving to the modern approach of "suck money from players any way you can" instead of the traditional "sell really really good games at a high-ish price that never goes down because the game is so good it retains its value".

I worry about this too, but I think the recent success of Majora's Mask 3D (a remastered version of a 15 year old game that sold over 1 million in the first two weeks) should solidify the importance to Nintendo of creating really good classic iconic games that retain their value.

refusal to embrace internet multiplayer

This has its advantages; internet multiplayer is very much at risk from griefers and behaviour unsuitable for kids. And Nintendo are staying firmly pre-teen focused while leaving 'mature' gaming to the other two.

And while Nintendo doesn't embrace it, they do support it. Nintendo provides free multiplayer online in many of their games. What they don't provide is online community in those games. You either play with your friends or you just join a game with random folks, and everybody is mute in the latter. It's minimalist, but it works.

I'm pretty tired of the 'free to play' revolution. I can't really wrap my head around why this is something consumers want.

"Your imaginary software racecar needs repairs! Wait 45 minutes or pay $2.99 and we'll set the 'repaired' variable to true."

People really do this?

Some do. Unfortunately quite a lot of those are either spending other people's money or have a poor grasp on their own finances. In some ways it's going back to the arcade model where a small currency unit buys you a few minutes of entertainment, rather than a big upfront investment buying you hours.

The money is earned on whales. I think on average, about 3% of F2P players pay, but those who do spend a large ammount of money on the game. The others simply wait. What I find more worrying is that so many play the bad free games instead of paying 3 bucks and get a "real" game.

A final instance, which they are still guilty of, is piss-poor hardware in their consoles.

I actually think that's a good move. Aside from anything else, it keeps the hardware cheap. It does mean less ports, but Nintendo has done a pretty good job of trying to appeal to a different demographic than the Xbox and Playstation.

People always complain when Nintendo doesn't behave just like their rivals. Their hardware is cheap because they are aiming for a lower price point, and it worked like a charm with the Wii. And personally I'm ok with them having poor internet multiplayer, because it's just not for kids. They don't know who they're interacting with, and their parents are often too ignorant to know better. Why do you want Nintendo to make something exactly like an xbox? Just buy an Xbox.

> free to play

They're a little more ahead on that one: http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-video-games/pokemon-shuffl...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com